United Asia- Pacific Youths Stand for anti-corruption

January 4 – 10, 2015, the first International Camp on Youth Empowerment for Transparency and Integrity was organised by Transparency International Cambodia (TIC), in collaboration with Towards Transparency (TT) and five other TI Chapters in Asia Pacific. 33 young activists took this valuable chance to equip themselves with useful knowledge, important skills, and practical tools to fight against corruption and take action.

5 representatives from Vietnam together with other 28 from Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the Philippines were inspired with many fascinating lectures presented by experts from Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (United Nation Human Rights) and TI Chapters. Those lessons on human rights, good governance, and roles of youths, ICT tools and applications were delivered effectively through the presentations, group discussions, role plays and demonstrative games.

“Experiencing differences in another cultural and political context helped me see anti-corruption through various perspectives and consider whether they can be applied in our own projects. I’ve also learned numerous ideas from other countries and proper manner when participating in such an international environment”,
22 year-old Le Nhat Y, from Vietnam.

One of the biggest achievements of the camp was a joint agreement on the establishment of a platform so – called the Youth Movement for Transparency in Asia (YMTA), for youths to develop collective actions on promoting transparency and integrity across the region.

Furthermore, each country’s delegation also started their initiatives with a small grant supported by the camp’s organisers for further development. Vietnamese delegation will implement a project on collecting and sharing integrity stories not only throughout Vietnam but also across the region to raise youths’ awareness.

“The participants were really excellent and really contributed as they asked many questions and got very engaging to develop ideas of projects and initiatives which they can use in their countries.”

The potential capacity of the future leaders of the world should never be undermined and young activists can fulfill their roles in promoting integrity and eradicating corruption by starting their own initiatives today.